Dog Sled Races

This past weekend, we traveled to Les Mosses, Switzerland with S&S from SchwigenandSwitzerland. 

The mission:

To see hundreds of fluffy snow dogs, watch some dog sledding races, get some sun, and maybe pet a few of these fluffy puppies.

It was about an hour and a half drive from Geneva to get to this Winter wonderland in the Alps.  Les Mosses is in a valley nestled between stunning views of snow-capped peaks.

When we arrived, it sounded like a zoo... a dog zoo.  There were hundreds of dogs barking, getting ready to race, relaxing, and making yellow snow.  A dog lover's paradise.

  

In dog sledding, you can have as many dogs on your team as you want.  However, it seemed that most teams had between 5 and 10.  Apparently it's a fine art placing and picking dogs.  Put the smart dominant ones up front and the crazy/strong ones in the back.  The trainers said that not every dog has what it takes.  Some never learn their left from their right and some just can't handle being harnessed and pulling with other dogs.  I tend to think that Jackson & Rocco would fall into that latter category.  Although we saw a few different breeds, there were no schnauzer/cairn terrier mixes.  We're still thinking of putting together a Geneva mutt team.  Filled with small crazy dogs.  I think we have a chance.

The team would run up to the starting line and the dogs would stop on command... all of them.  It was amazing to watch.  Handlers would hold a pair of dogs until it was time to start. This kept them from going anywhere.  It seemed as though the dogs were given crack just prior to pulling up to the start line.  They were c.r.a.z.y.  Jumping, barking, and sometimes even fighting with each other because they were so excited.

Exhibit A:  This shows how crazy they were.  "AAAAAAAHHHHHH  WE"RE RUNNING!!!"

My sister's dog looks just like this crazed black and white one in the front.  She'd fit right in.

  

We even saw labs... hmmmm.  Sled dogs?  They were sort of the outcasts, but still proved to be efficient sled pullers.

Giant husky puppies in training.  They were sooo cute and I kind of wanted to take them home.

We learned a little bit about the whole process from this trainer.  We wandered up to her little dog camp where she had a giant family of dogs who were all on the same sled team.  The dad of the bunch was up front leading the bigger dogs, while the youger pups stayed behind and just took in the atmosphere.  

    

  

I've never seen dogs that love the snow as much as huskies.

We stayed away from the yellow snow and mullets.

   

I told Adam we needed a sled so he could pull me around next year.  It looked so relaxing.

 

  

  

Tired after finishing their 10 mile race.

  

 There were other breeds of animals present too.  Like this cow below.  The owner had him harnessed to his waist (crotch straps included) because he was so big.  At only 8 months old, I can't imagine how big this beast will get.  

We even saw skiers being pulled by dogs... I need to try this.

 Mush!

  

 We saw this amazing thing... a stroller with skis.  Genius.

  

 After the races, we found a little restaurant and sat out on the deck for some burgers and beer.  Yum.

  

  

On the road back to Geneva!  We had such a great time.  We even talked about scheduling our own little dog sledding adventures.  Apparently there are places that will allow you to take a sled out and run a course with a set of dogs who are trained to run a certain route.  Sounds awesome.

Check out S&S's post about this too.  There's a little more technical information and history behind it.

This was my favorite photo I took during the day...

Au revoir!

Cheese Fridge

It's been a while huh?  Sorry I've been in a blog writing slump recently.  We're alive and well!

I recently realized that we had 18 different types of cheese in our fridge.  Eighteen.

It may have mostly been related to a get-together we had at our place this weekend, but we typically have at least 8 of these in stock.  Ridiculous.

Of course I took all of them out, arranged them, and snapped a photo.  I felt like it was an accomplishment to fit that much cheese into our mini European fridge.

From left to right:
1. Pizza mix
2. Parmasean
3. Fol Epi Swiss cheese
4. Babybel
5. Leger Tilsiter
6. Boursin
7. Mozzarella balls
8. Bresse Bleu
9. Gruyere
10. Reblochon
11. Philadelphia Cream Cheese
12. Emmentaler
13. President's Brie
14. Sandwich slices (some sort of white cheese)
15. Cheddar slices
16. Blue cheese (forgot to get that in the picture)
17. Raclette (forgot again)
18. Fondue cheese (in the freezer and forgot)

You probably recognize some of these, but others may be a little more 'exotic.'  Exotic cheese, to me, means that it smells or tastes terrible.  Like feet... or worse.  The Gruyere, Emmentaler, Fondue, and Tilsiter all take on a sort of dirty feet smell.  At least they do when it's your first time eating them.  I'm not bothered anymore  because they're so good.  Sometimes members of our household get blamed for smells they didn't create.  It's usually blamed on the cheese or Rocco.  He's got some serious issues.

It might surprise you that most (if not all) of these cheeses were produced in Switzerland.  So, you can't stereotype us anymore by thinking that we only eat this...

Source

One could say that our cheese palate  has matured in the past year.  I don't know if is that sophisticated or if it's just the fact that the cheese here is delicious and extremely popular.

If you're interested in trying some 'exotic' cheese, then try some Gruyere or Emmentaler.  I know a lot of US groceries sell them.  I remember hating the smell when I first tried them, but we're used to it now and love them both.  They're pretty mild, have a harder texture, and are perfect for picnics or parties.  :)

I know what you're thinking and... No.  Our digestive systems are not wrecked all the time.  We function just fine.

Au revoir!

Warm boxes of milk.

Adam is a milk machine... meaning that he drinks a lot of it.  Don't take that the wrong way.  I, on the other hand, am not as big of a fan.  I have it in cereal and hot chocolate, but that's about it.  I use to be able to drink a big glass, but I think that would make me vomit these days.  

We don't buy these anymore:

We buy these:

 

Warm.  1 liter.  Boxes of Swiss milk.  Yes, warm.  Mmmmmm.  

Pictured above is how we bring them home.  They are conveniently packaged in sets of four (with spiffy yellow carrying handle) and can be found in the dairy section... on a normal shelf... not a cooler.  However, if you do happen to need a cold one then you can buy them individually.

"That sounds gross Ashley."

Yes, it does sound absolutely disgusting.  It took me a while to get used to the taste and idea of my milk being warm before I stuck it in the fridge.  However, we did some research and found out that...

• "UHT" (on the side of the box) stands for Ultra-Heat Temperature.  Basically, they heat the milk up to a super high temperature for a short period of time so that it kills all the bacteria.
• 6-9 month shelf life... insane
• Sometimes the UHT process can cause a change in the way the milk tastes.  Agreed.  It's not a huge difference though.
• 63% of Switzerland's consumed milk is UHT.

I thought it was completely weird too, but I've grown to appreciate the small boxes.  I don't get a bicep workout from trying to lift a ten pound gallon, which means no more of those 'first opened volcanic eruption spills.'  Also, it takes up a lot less space in our tiny European fridge.  

We keep them on our shelf unit until we need a 'fresh' one.  They also do a lot of juices like this too.  We buy our orange juice in boxes.  

From Bessie to box.

German lesson: milk is "milch" (milsh)

French lesson: milk is "lait" (lay)

Au revoir!